Zero nitrates with carbon dosing

[jabell]

I've been carbon dosing since my tank has been setup. I have been at 0ppm for nitrate for some time now and have been gradually reducing the nopox dosage. My dosage is almost too low to even reduce anymore. Should I quit carbon dosing to have detectable nitrate levels?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How do the corals look? Pale? If so, I'd reduce or stop.

 

[jabell]

Most of the corals do look pale. I have been trying to feed heavier to increase nitrate but that has not worked either. Will there be any issues with starting carbon dosing again if I take a break until there is a decent amount of detectable nitrate? Will the bacteria that the carbon dosing is feeding die off?

 

[toothybugs]

Can you afford (space-wise) to add some more fish?

 

[anthonywesty]

Stop carbon dosing and wait a few weeks.

 

[jabell]

I do plan on adding another fish or two eventually. It is only a 34 gallon tank though so Im adding slowly. I probably will stop dosing and see how it goes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Most of the corals do look pale. I have been trying to feed heavier to increase nitrate but that has not worked either. Will there be any issues with starting carbon dosing again if I take a break until there is a decent amount of detectable nitrate? Will the bacteria that the carbon dosing is feeding die off?

Many may slowly die out, but if you restart slowly if needed, it will be fine.

 

[Rob Lion]

@jabell, I balance my NOPOX carbon dosing with using the RedSea coral food A+B, by adjusting much coral food I add, with the amount of NOPOX i dose, I can keep a very stable reading of 0.2ppm Nitrates and 0.015ppm Phosphates (both tests with Salifert) with little effort.
In my 250L tank, I currently dose 3ml NOPOX and 5ml of each Coralfood A+B. If my nitrates go up to 0.5ppm, i can either decrease the coral Food or increase the NOPOX. I never stop dosing NOPOX, as it can take a while (1-2 weeks) to get bacteria going fully again.
I'm not sure if it makes a great deal of difference, but I dose NOPOX at 10am (on the basis it takes a few hours to grow bacteria to then be either eaten by corals (during max light hours) or skimmed out) and I add coral food at midnight after i do my testing which helps the night feeders.

 

[jabell]

Thanks for the help. I will probably stop carbon dosing though for now. I think I have a form of cyano that I thought was originally a form of GHA. I have heard carbon dosing can cause or contribute to cyano problems.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

The cyano/etc comes up when nitrates are routinely lower than phosphate. Pretty common thing no matter the carbon dosing source.
Also doo not stop all together, it needs to be reduced gradually over a couple weeks or you might have mass die-off of the bacteria that was growing from the source. And when your tank is less than 5ppm nitrate, or undetectable, cut your nopox dose in half. I think that's what they state in the little manual you get. Otherwise get some Reef Energy, that helps a lot to keep the balance in check.

 

[mcarroll]

I have heard carbon dosing can cause or contribute to cyano problems.

In general, carbon dosing is poorly understood.

More than likely the folks you've heard about were trying to use carbon dosing to reduce phosphates.

Any phosphate reduction under normal circumstances is purely coincidence. Carbon dosing is a nitrate reduction scheme.

As such, using it to battle phosphates is basically inviting cyanobacteria by brutally keeping nitrates at zero. Cyano can fix their own nitrogen so they are (almost) the only thing unbothered. Corals and algae, on the other hand, will suffer.

 

[jabell]

I would like to keep carbon dosing but I can't get my nitrates up and I have a cyano problem. I'm already down to a .2 ml dose per day. Can I dose that every other day to keep dosing or should I try to go to .1 ml per day? After that reduction there is almost nowhere to go and I don't want to start diluting the nopox. Would you suggest running gfo in conjunction with carbon dosing?

 

[jabell]

Also I have tried using the reef energy and that has not helped with 0 nitrates. I feel like it was just helping my cyano grow.

 

[Wilsoni]

I dose MB7 in conjunction with NoPox and keep GFO online as well. My bio load is pretty high and I target feed all of my coral along with fish heavily/frequently. I dose aminos as well.

My nitrates are sitting at 2 and phosphates undetectable with no present signs of problematic algae.

What kit are you using to test your nitrates?

 

[Wilsoni]

@Randy Holmes-Farley will running a second bacteria source such as MB7 in addition to NoPox aid in combating jabells cyano issue?

 

[aquamn1999]

I had the same problem with my corals looking pale. i lowered my carbon dosing gradually over 3 weeks and the colors started coming back. I did not have a cyano problem as I had 0 nitrates and 0 po4 regardless of how much and how many times a day I feed. You can go to .1ml and keep it there for a week. If you don't see an improvement than go .1ml every other day for a week. Still no improvement than dose once every 3 days. If you stop all at once you might have a big die off.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the help. I will probably stop carbon dosing though for now. I think I have a form of cyano that I thought was originally a form of GHA. I have heard carbon dosing can cause or contribute to cyano problems.

Yes, it can. Cyyano is a bacteria and some cyano species can consume the organics we dose. If you encounter such a problem, switching to another organic can help. I found that with vodka and switching to vinegar led to less of a problem in my tank, but it all depends on what species of bacteria and cyano you have present. Adding more bacteria (such as via MB7) may also help if cyano rears its ugly head.

 

[mcarroll]

I would like to keep carbon dosing but I can't get my nitrates up and I have a cyano problem.

This is kinda the problem and what I was referring to above.....carbon dosing is a nitrate solution.

Why use a solution that's for a nitrate problem when you don't have a nitrate problem?

However you do it, I'd ween yourself off of carbon dosing.

 

[jabell]

I am using red seas nitrate pro kit. It seems to work. Before my tank went to 0 it was showing my high nitrates all the way down through the cycle.

 

[jabell]

And I double check with a separate Red Sea kit that is just the basic marine care kit. They both read 0.